Post DOTS, post genomics: the next century of tuberculosis control

At the end of another decade of our fluctuating relationship with tuberculosis, it is not clear whether we should be optimistic or pessimistic. The raw statistics are bad: an estimated 30 million people have died of tuberculosis in the past 10 years.1 The WHO has rightfully declared this to be a global health emergency. Almost in the same breath, it was announced that a solution to this global disaster had been discovered, the widespread implementation of directly observed therapy short-course (DOTS), a set of measures (essentially 6 months of intermittent supervised therapy) that have existed for over 2 decades.